Hope for the next time

As some of you might know, I am a big fan of Football (No. It is not American football but the actual football which you all here call it soccer) and Cricket. The attitude and craze is some what similar to what some of you might have for American Football, except my craze happens every four years. When the world cup Football was happening, I had bought the matches on my dish and was practically glued to my T.V., watching every single match that I possibly could. When the final match was to be played, I had invited some of my friends and we were all cheering and enjoying the crazy moments to the fullest extent possible. Well, that is history now.

This time of the year is the fever for the world cup Cricket 2007. I was so excited when the qualifying matches were about to begin. I saw in which group India was in and who it would play against. India happened to play against Bangladesh, Bermuda and Sri Lanka in group B. But the sorry state of affair was that India won only against Bermuda and lost against the other two. As a result, India will not advance to super 8 in world cup series. Indian cricket was at its best in the past years but lately it has come to a situation where we would all feel good if it won against a new team like Bermuda. In the past years, we would know for sure that India will win against teams like Bangladesh but the current state has come to a point where we (Indians) would debate about India winning even against Bermuda.

Times have changed. I remember the world cup cricket 2003 when I was watching the Finals with my friends at home. It was tense to see the finals between India and Australia. But even though India lost the finals, we were proud in a way that we lost against the best team in cricket. But today, knowing that India lost the qualifying rounds, it makes me sad to see the set back. Indian team cannot be performing with the same tactics that they used several years back. There are advancements in everything – from landlines to wireless, from CDs to iPods and so shouldn’t there be advancement in Indian cricket strategy as well? I can see that the other teams have improved in their games, so why is there a setback in Indian team. Indian cricket is financially sound but morally very poor.

The last world cup that India won was in 1983 and since then all Indian cricket fans are eagerly waiting to see the light again. I can totally relate to the Redskins fans here. You are not alone in the wait for hope. I am here in the same category except my wait is for a different team for a different sport. Let us all wait and hope for the next time. until such time, we will strengthen our spirits with the wins from local and other series match that our team would win.